Mother, domestic violence and social work interventions

Dr Elaine Arnull, University of Wolverhampton ‘Rethinking social work practice with mothers experiencing domestic violence’ Elaine is the Director for the Institute of Social Work and Care and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing at the University of Wolverhampton. She is an Adjunct Professor Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. She is currently the Chair of the Division of Women and Crime which is the largest division of the American Society of Criminology which is the largest organisation of criminologists in the world. Elaine will present recent research she has undertaken which calls for a review of the legal frameworks and ontological assumptions underpinning child protection social work in the context of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). Nikki Plummer is currently Domestic Abuse Lead Manager at Birmingham Children’s Trust. This is a newly created post due to the prevalence and complexity of domestic abuse work identified within the Trust and an area of work that Nikki has been both interested and actively involved in, within her previous roles. The scope of the Domestic Abuse Lead Manager role extends to developing resource and capacity within the Trust, ensuring the training and learning needs of staff are addressed, the development of internal support systems such as Intranet pages and webinars and ensuring the Trust are representing children’s needs at strategic and operational partnership meetings and working groups. Prior to that Nikki was a Locality Team Manager for the Trust since 2014 and managed a large family support team. Nikki has experience of work in the voluntary sector also having worked in various youth service settings and also managed the Young Carers Services for Birmingham for a number of years. Nikki has a BSc (Hons) Psychology and Applied Statistics and a MA in Leadership and Management in Social Work alongside Diplomas in Working with Children and Young People, Management and Leadership and Systemic Supervision for Multiple Contexts. Nikki is passionate about lifelong learning and ongoing professional development and is also in her 6th year studying part time for a PhD in Social Work. The research focusses on the role of other agencies in prevention and early intervention; and what they need to be able to respond effectively to the needs of families to reduce incidences of crisis intervention from social work.